Village Peddler Festival wraps up at Lake Metroparks Farmpark in Kirtland
A lot of shopping took place on the grounds of Lake Metroparks Farmpark on Sept. 13 and 14.
That’s when Farmpark served as the site of the 41st annual Village Peddler Festival.
More than 200 vendors, including crafters, artists, and food trucks and stands, participated in this year’s event.
Featured merchandise included pottery, wooden signs, jewelry, candles, baskets, clothing, purses and tote bags, photographs, paintings, and charcuterie and cutting boards. Jillian Marie’s Studio marked its third year as a vendor at the Village Peddler Festival.
The home-based business, which makes handcrafted polymer clay earrings, is owned by Jillian Livorse. She started producing these types of earrings during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
“I got sent home from college (when COVID shut down all educational institutions), so I was just kind of doing nothing for a few months, and I saw someone making (polymer clay earrings) on I think it was TikTok or Instagram,” she said. “I liked the look of them, so I decided to give it a try, and it just kind of blossomed into a whole business.”
A graduate of Willoughby South High School, Livorse earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Seton Hill University in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Today, she works full-time in human resources at the University of Cincinnati.
Livorse said she mainly sells her products at arts and craft shows in Northeast Ohio because it’s where she grew up. She especially enjoys the atmosphere at Village Peddler Festival.
“I like the grounds, I like how you get to enjoy the Farmpark, and being outside, and just seeing all the unique vendors that come through,” she said.
Another exhibitor that returned to Village Peddler Festival for a third straight year was Art by Ali Cleveland.
The business is owned by Ali Fensel of Parma, who mainly creates mixed-media art.
“I grew up in Eastlake and went to Willoughby-Eastlake Technical Center for commercial art,” she said. “I’ve been selling art for over 34 years, way longer than I want to admit.”
Fensel went full-time with her business in 2021. She works from a studio that’s open to the public only by appointment, and travels around to a lot of art shows.
“I’m just starting my big show season and I’ll be doing shows through December,” she said.
When creating art, Fensel said tries to upcycle as many materials as she can, including glass.
“A lot of times people will break glass, or have old mirrors that they don’t want any more,” she said. “I will go and pick these things up, or people drop them off at my studio.”
At this year’s Village Peddler Festival, Fensel was featuring colorful glass artistic creations, such as hearts, stars and moons.
“There’s a lot of broken glass (in these artistic pieces), colorants I use and then resin to hold it together,” she said. “A lot of the bigger pieces are painted on mirrors, and then I go back and forth with multiple layers of paint and resin to get the depth.”
Fensel said she likes being a vendor at Village Peddler Festival for several reasons.
“First off, it’s the Farmpark, which is awesome,” she said. “There’s such great vendors here. There are true artists, and people you can tell who just enjoy what they do.” One of the new vendors at the 2025 festival was HiFiDiva. The business is owned by Susan Steinicke of Concord Township, who creates tote bags with repurposed record album covers.
A Village Peddler Facebook page post described how Steinicke makes those special bags.
“Repurposed record album covers are lined with specialty paper, laminated, hole punched and grommeted,” the post stated. “Nylon belting or guitar straps are then sewn on, and the album pieces are hand-laced together.”
Steinicke, who is a mixed-media artist, also transforms vinyl albums into bowls that can hold items like snacks, candy or small change. The bottom of each bowl contains the original record label from each album.
She launched her HiFiDiva business about 20 years ago.
“I’m from Lake County originally, moved to Louisville, Kentucky, and spent 13 years there,” she said. “I moved back about six years ago, and I’m trying to get back into the festival circuit.”
Steinicke said she applied for booth space at the 2025 Village Peddler Festival at the urging of a customer, who is also a crafter.
At the Sept. 14 session of the festival, said she was happy with how things were going during her inaugural appearance.
“It’s just so peaceful and the weather has been beautiful this weekend,” she said. “Everyone is so friendly. It doesn’t feel crowded, there’s a lot of space between the booths and wide paths for visitors.”
The Village Peddler Festival is organized and conducted each year by Holly Pastor and Kelly Noon. In 2022, they purchased the Village Peddler Festival name and the rights to operate the event from longtime show producer Roberta Rice.
Pastor said she and Noon are working hard to make sure that the festival continues to be a great experience for vendors and shoppers.